This invention relates to a flowthrough-type electrolytic cell, and particularly to an electrolytic cell suitable for detecting sample components in a sample solution by constant potential electrolysis.
Conventional, flowthrough-type electrolytic cells are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,270, where a controlled potential coulometry cell has a working electrode of plate-like shape and two counterelectrodes of similar shape, and the working electrode is sandwiched between two ion exchange membranes. In such a conventional electrolytic cell, the thickness of the electrode cannot be made extremely smaller due to the use of porous electrodes of plate-like shape, and thus the cell capacity is as large as about 200 .mu.l. Furthermore, such a conventional electrolytic cell has unworking electrode parts, which fail to work effectively for the electrolysis, for example, the side parts and the parts counterposed to the counterelectrodes.